Page 79 of Wolf's Providence

“Understood,” I murmured. “I take it you listened to it?”

The flat look was warranted. “No, I picked your message out of the air with my psychic abilities. No, wait, that’s your trick, right?”

“I’m guessing you’re pissed off?” I asked with a sigh, dropping my bag to the floor. Lily watched the descent of the bag with far too much interest.

“You’re leaving whether I listened to the voicemail or not?”

I took a deep breath. It had been such a good voicemail. Clean, concise, and compact. Boom, boom and boom. Now I had to do the messy in-person stuff. Only one hour ago, I was tellingmyself I wasn’t weak. Staring at Lily right now, I did feel a little bit like a coward.

“I need to meet Caleb,” I told her, trying to make it sound like no big deal. “He’s, um…gone ahead. I have someone who is helping me catch up.”

“Someone?” Her eyebrow quirked in that knowing way, meaning she could smell a rat, and I could see worry threaded into her gaze.

I swallowed hard, debating how much to say. I couldn’t share their secret, but I hated lying to her. “An old friend of Caleb’s.”

“That man has friends?” Lily asked doubtfully. “Mr. Talk-A-Lot?”

“Lily, be nice.” I suspected her dad told her he had reservations about Caleb, and Lily valued her father’s opinion.

“So…you’re being cryptic on purpose?” she guessed. “Which means that it’s this thing that you can’t tell me more about, but it’s why your places were broken into, and it’s tied to Caleb, right?”

My eyes closed briefly. I was so tired of being confused. “Yeah,” I answered truthfully. “It’s tied to Calebandme. We’re linked, Lily, and even if we weren’t, I would be going.”

“Because you love him.”

Just flat-out put that out there.

“Um…” My face was burning. I knew Eamon was listening. I knew Lily wasn’t expecting to be told otherwise. I…whatwasI waiting for? Squaring my shoulders, I nodded. “Yes. I do.”

She watched me her expression softening. “And this friend? Is he crazy? Can he be trusted? What if he’s like a serial killer or something? Is he hot?” She seemed to think about the order in how she’d just listed off her questions but then shrugged. When she looked at me, her eyes widened in understanding. “He’s in the house, huh?” I bobbed my head slightly. “Of course he is.”

“I’m not crazy.” Eamon’s low voice came from behind her, and she nearly jumped. “Depends on who you’re asking me to trust, not a serial killer, but probably not your typical good guy. And I can hold my own in the looks department.”

Lily spun to face Eamon, who was leaning against the wall with the faintest hint of a smile.

I moved a little so I could see both of them, and I saw Lily look him up and down, clearly unimpressed with his silent entrance. “And you’re…?” Her voice was sharp with suspicion, and I could see her sizing him up.

“Eamon,” he replied with a simple dip of his head. “I’m taking Willow to Caleb, depending on how hard she snores. Well, that determines whether she’ll be added to the body count.”

I saw Lily’s mouth drop and I shot Eamon an exasperated look. “That’snothelping!” I scolded him, but he was already laughing.

She turned back to me, concern marring her beautiful face. “What is going on with you?” she asked quietly, not caring Eamon could hear her. “You meet Caleb and you’re not the person you were. The woman I know, the Willow I know, would nevereverbe running after a guy, no matter how good he looked or how well he did in bed.”

“Lily!”

She ignored my wide-eyed look.

“Don’t Lily me, Willow. What the heck is happening? You told me some of it, and you promised if things got crazy, you’d tell me it all.” Lily glanced at Eamon. “Girl, things got crazy a while ago, I’d say. Tell me everything.”

“I can’t.” It was the hardest two words I’d ever said in my life.

Lily’s gaze flicked to Eamon once more, before she turned back to me. “Willow?”

Her look of disappointment tore at my heart, but I knew right then that I could never tell her all of it. She must have seen the resolve in my eyes because after a long moment, she nodded her head.

“Alright, listen to me,” she said, moving closer to me, but her words were for Eamon. “Willow’s my best friend. I don’t care who you are to Caleb, friend, or friend of a friend, if you don’t bringmybest friend back in one piece, you’ll have me to deal with.” Reaching out, she grasped my hand, squeezing tight. “There’s some very weird, funky shit going on here, and I don’t like it. But Willow…” Her hand was gripping mine tightly. “Willow is loyal, and if she loves Caleb, well…she’s too stubborn to listen to reason. So, you bring her back to me in one piece, understand? No moreaccidents.”

“Lily,” I whispered in protest, but they both ignored me.

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